Silk

My favorite site of the trip was the first silk shop that we visited. Because I'm majoring in mechanical engineering, I found this site to be extremely mesmerizing and oddly satisfying. I thought that I was going to be bored out of my mind while learning about something as boring as silk making. I was totally wrong. As soon as I stepped into the shop, my brain immediately tried to figure out how the machines worked. It was really cool to see our guide use the machine. If someone could help me, how did he know which color to use? I usually don't enjoy power points but one he showed was fantastic. He seemed really passionate about his work and it really showed when he was explaining the origins of his art. The portraits of people and detailed woven pieces were the most impressive to me. I can't even shade things correctly with colored pencil. They're creating multiple shades of grey using only two colors of silk. If I were to live in that time and work in that industry... I would want to be the one who created the "punch card". I understand why silk is so expensive now. When I was a kid, I enjoyed silk stuff but my mom would never buy it for me. She said it was too expensive. Now that I'm older... I now know why it's so expensive and I can fully appreciate it and buy it for myself.